Deputy crashes patrol car into pickup, pole

Sheriff's Office says investigation is underway

A Brevard County Sheriff's deputy is under investigation after an accident in a construction zone that left his patrol car shattered and damaged a road construction truck.

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Before dawn, at Gateway Drive and Hibiscus Boulevard in Melbourne, the car crashed into the back of a road construction pickup and then smashed into the concrete pole on the southeast corner. The pole holds up the traffic light cables.

The patrol car was severely damaged, but the deputy was able to walk away and was not hurt.

The sheriff's office has not identified the deputy and did not call in another agency to investigate. Melbourne police said an investigation was not needed.

For example, FHP found that a deputy was going 24 mph above the speed limit in 2010 when he hit and killed a pedestrian in Cocoa.

But in Wednesday morning's accident, a highway patrol spokesman was stunned that FHP was not called to investigate. The spokesman said the sheriff's office is allowed under the law to investigate its own crashes.

A sheriff's spokesman would only say that the investigation is under way.

There is no information on whether the rear-end crash is the deputy's fault. It happened in the very early morning hours when construction crews were repaving at a time of minimum traffic.

WESH 2 News asked the Sheriff's Office if the deputy's duty status has changed. The sheriff's office has not responded to that question.